A Septaugenarian Woman given 40 lashes for having two men in her home.

The two men were delivering bread to her.

Is this the Mercy of Allah?

(CNN) — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a 75-year-old Syrian woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation from the kingdom for having two unrelated men in her house, according to local media reports.

According to the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan, troubles for the woman, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, began last year when a member of the religious police entered her house in the city of Al-Chamli and found her with two unrelated men, “Fahd” and “Hadian.”

Fahd told the policeman he had the right to be there, because Sawadi had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore considered to be a son to her in Islam, according to Al-Watan. Fahd, 24, added that his friend Hadian was escorting him as he delivered bread for the elderly woman. The policeman then arrested both men.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam called Wahhabism and punishes unrelated men and women who are caught mingling.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, feared by many Saudis, is made up of several thousand religious policemen charged with duties such as enforcing dress codes, prayer times and segregation of the sexes. Under Saudi law, women face many restrictions, including a strict dress code and a ban on driving. Women also need to have a man’s permission to travel.

Good Old Islamic Justice of Saudi Arabia. It’s gotta make Muslims all over the world so proud.

This “culture” needs to be eradicated. The stain of this belief needs to be removed from the world.

Someone please explain to me how the Saudis are different from the taliban? I’ll give you a hint. They’re not. The only real difference is that Saudi Arabia has oil. Therefore, no one cares that they are savage animals with no morals. No one cares for their people or that their brand of Islam is exactly that which was espoused and enacted by the Taliban. No one cares that Saudi Arabia and their rulers practice the exact same brand of Islam as Osama bin Laden and his cronies in al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia is one of the greatest enemies of freedom and liberty extant in the world. They are second only to Iran and their dogs in hizbollah, Quds force and Revolutionary Guards.

Yet, they are our “allies.”

Continuing to do business with Saudi Arabia is like handing your enemy a loaded gun, pointing it at your heart and assisting said enemy in pulling the trigger. It is insanity.

Clashes started late yesterday morning and continued throughout the afternoon at the Witthayu intersection, the Thai-Belgium Bridge, Lumpini police station, Ratchaprarop Road, Din Daeng intersection, Silom Road and Soi Sala Daeng.

Soldiers used tear gas, rubber bullets, and live rounds against protesters, who retaliated using home-made rockets and Molotov cocktails to block advancing soldiers and by setting fire to a bus.

I read this book about 3 months ago. It’s a fascinating read. At the time I read it, though, I thought it to be all fiction. Recently, I found out that it’s based on real events and real people. Even if loosely based, it’s still amazing to me that anyone could be as foolish and idiotic as Pete. It’s mindboggling that anyone could do anything remotely resembling his acts of stupidity and treachery.

I have, in my travels, been witness to similar events. Bar girls using their wiles to goad foolish, naive men into handing over large sums of money. Men using women for sex while telling them that they love them and are going to marry them and take them home. Relationships began on completely false pretext. Everything. I’ve seen it somewhere.

But this book takes the cake. It was a fast and easy read. Stephen Leather gives a glimpse into the seedier side of Bangkok life. When you read it, realize that this is only a part of that life. It’s a small part as well. I’ve met hundreds of regular women and men in Thailand who aren’t constantly working a scam on some dumb farang. I’ve met people who straddle the line as well as the voyeurs who interact and watch but never participate. Life is fascinating in Bangkok. It can really twist up a weak soul. Wrap you around the wings of the dark angels and drag you down. DEEP into murky waters. It can also be a pleasant experience and uplifting. Depends on what and where you are seeking your experience.

Just be careful. It’s all about situational awareness as we say in Afghanistan. Keep your eyes open. Don’t be a fool.

Thailand 1996. The Year Of The Rat. Pete, a young travel writer, wanders into a Bangkok go-go bar and meets the love of his life. Joy is the girl of his dreams: young, stunningly pretty, and one of the Zombie Bar’s top-earning pole dancers. What follows is a roller-coaster ride of sex, drugs and deception, as Pete discovers that his very own private dancer is not all that she claims to be. And that far from being the girl of his dreams, Joy is his own personal nightmare.

For many years Private Dancer was only available as a free download through my website. It became something of a cult classic and over the last five years was downloaded sixty thousand times from more than forty countries. I gleaned much of the information for the book sitting in a bar called Jool’s in Sukhumvit Soi 4, just down the road from Bangkok’s infamous Nana Plaza red light area. The owner, Big Dave, knows pretty much everything there is to know about Thailand, and he’s the basis for the Big Ron character in the book.

Hodder and Stoughton didn’t want to publish Private Dancer as it is so different from my regular thrillers, so I decided to publish the book myself in Thailand, through my own publishing company, Three Elephants. (Three Elephants is an anagram of Stephen Leather!)

The striking cover photograph, of a naked girl holding a cut-throat razor behind her back, was taken in Anglewitch Bar in Nana Plaza and features one of the bar’s top showgirls. It took us ages to find the right girl. When I originally wrote the book, the fashion was for the girls to grow their hair long. But these days they trend to cut it short, make it curly, or dye it red or blonde. I sat with my friend Andrew Yates for hours outside Nana Plaza in search of the right girl, but it seemed as if the only ones with long straight hair were the ladyboys! My pal Paul Owen took the photograph. I borrowed the cut-throat razor from my barber and it took us almost an hour to get the shot right. I’m really pleased with the result – think it’s one of my best covers.

The book got great reviews from Bernard Trink at the Bangkok Post and the Pattaya Mail, both taking the view that Private Dancer should be required reading for all visitors to the Land of Smiles. Forewarned is forearmed! I think it works so well because it gives the story from so many viewpoints, including several Thai characters. Most books about the Thai bar scene only give the Westerners point of view.

Private Dancer is available at all good book shops throughout Thailand, especially Bookazine and Asia Books outlets, and is also on sale at the airport. There is still a free download available of an early version of Private Dancer. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE DOWNLOAD. The book has more detail on what happened to the characters so if you enjoy the download you’ll want to buy the book eventually!

In 2005, Phil Tatham, who runs Monsoon Books in Singapore, wanted to add the book to his growing stable of publications, and I agreed to let him have publication rights for Singapore and Malaysia. You can also buy it on line through his website, www.monsoonbooks.com.sg.